Microsoft Rolls out New Aerial Images for Bing Maps, Covering Australia and India

The new Bing Maps imagery covers 7,685,768 square kilometers in Australia and 3,119,733 in India, resulting in high-resolution images of the entire regions. The visual quality surpasses Google in some cases.

Google Maps is extremely popular, and part of that is due to its great aerial imagery. The battle for best quality is ongoing, and Microsoft is trying to bridge the gap. Today, the company released updated graphics for the whole of Australia and India.

In total, the new imagery encompasses 10,801,501 square kilometers of land mass. That includes all major cities, as well as suburbs and landscapes.

Historic Landmarks

A particular focus is the two region’s historic landmarks. Australians can now view high-res images of the Sydney Opera House, Ayers Rock, and the Great Barrier Reef. India benefits from a better representation of the Taj Mahal, Akshardham temple, and Ambedkar Memorial Park.

Here are some images of those renowned locations:

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Ayers Rock, Australia

Ayers Rock, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Sydney Opera House, Australia

Ambedkar Memorial Park, Lucknow, India

Ambedkar Memorial Park, Lucknow, India

The Akshardham Temple, New Dehli, India

The Akshardham Temple, New Dehli, India

The Taj Mahal, Agra, India

The Taj Mahal, Agra, India

These new upgrades put Bing Maps far ahead in many of these areas. Though Google often offers more zoom levels, the Bing images are usually sharper, with better colors and contrast. This makes it terrain look better and it’s easier to identify key landmarks.

Brazil

However, this could be part of a larger Bing project to increase the quality. Last week, Microsoft released over 8.5 million kilometers of imagery for Brazil. The pictures cover the shores of Copacabana, as well as Third Bridge in Victoria.

The Bing team is clearly dedicated to addressing weak points across the world, and with hope, the upgrade will only continue. Though image quality is not the most important factor, it will only help with stealing Google’s users.

You can find more information about the changes and links to each location on the Bing blog.

Ryan has had a passion for gaming and technology since early childhood. Fusing the skills from his Creative Writing and Publishing degree with profound technical knowledge, he enjoys covering news about Microsoft. As an avid writer, he is also working on his debut novel.